HomeCompleted Collections

Completed Collections

Bill Book No. 1, 1881-1900

Contains invoices, correspondence, provenance information, telegrams, and newspaper clippings, with an index in the front of the volume. The bulk of the book concerns purchases made from 1895-1898, but also also documents acquisitions made in the 1880s. Correspondents include Jules Breton, Charles Carstairs and Roland Knoedler of M. Knoedler & Co., Jean Charles Cazin, Francis Davis Millet, Arthur Tooth, and Edmond Simon.

TOTAL PAGES TRANSCRIBED: 200



Requests to visit Frick's gallery at One East 70th Street, 1914-1919, undated

Requests to visit Frick’s gallery were made by individuals and groups who wished to see the collection while it was still housed in a private residence, and provide some insight into the extent to which Frick allowed the public to view his collection. Copies of Frick’s replies, either confirming or denying the request, are sometimes included. At other times, a penciled note designating the day of the visit appears on the request.

TOTAL PAGES TRANSCRIBED: 411



Art Not Purchased, 1897-1919

These materials document works of art that were offered, considered, or pursued, but ultimately not purchased by Frick, and include works by Holbein, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Houdon, Memling, and Titian. Frick’s reasons for rejecting a work are not always given. Occasionally it is due to the high cost of the work being offered, but may also relate to questions of authenticity, or a lack of willingness on the part of the owner to sell.

TOTAL PAGES TRANSCRIBED: 308



M. Knoedler & Co. - Correspondence

Frick’s correspondence with M. Knoedler & Co. dates from 1895 to 1919. He purchased the majority of the art work in his collection from this firm, where his principal correspondents were Roland F. Knoedler and Charles Carstairs, although he also communicated with Charles L. Knoedler, Thomas Gerrity, C.R. Henschel, and other representatives of the firm. These letters discuss art works purchased or available for purchase, as well as loans for exhibitions, insurance and financial matters, and other topics. Frick’s secretaries, A. Braddel and F.W. McElroy, and his steward, Joseph Holroyd, occasionally wrote to M. Knoedler & Co. on Frick’s behalf.

TOTAL PAGES TRANSCRIBED: 350



Duveen Brothers, 1906-1921

Frick’s correspondence with Duveen Brothers dates from 1906-1919; additional correspondence dated 1920-1921 concerns payments to Duveen by Frick’s estate. Frick purchased Renaissance bronzes, Chinese porcelains, Limoges enamels, and furniture from the J.P. Morgan estate through Joseph Duveen, as well as the series of panels by Fragonard entitled The Progress of Love. He also acquired rugs, porcelains, and other objects for the Frick family's Massachusetts summer home from Duveen. Correspondence concerns art works purchased and offered, and includes invoices.

TOTAL PAGES TRANSCRIBED: 216



Charles Carstairs - Correspondence

An art dealer with the firm M. Knoedler & Co., Charles S. Carstairs corresponded with Frick from 1897 to 1919. Their letters discuss art works (both purchased and unpurchased), the art market in general, other dealers and collectors, and more casual topics, such as family and mutual friends. Frick’s secretary, F.W. McElroy, occasionally wrote to Carstairs on Frick’s behalf.

TOTAL PAGES TRANSCRIBED: 127



Alice Creelman - Correspondence

Creelman began corresponding with Frick after the death of her husband, jounalist James Creelman, in 1915. That year, she arranged for Frick to purchase two works (Holbein's Thomas Cromwell and Titian's Portrait of a Man in the Red Cap) from the collection of Sir Hugh Lane. She later had a hand in Frick's acquisition of works by Whistler and Van Dyck, and offered him works by a number of other artists, including Roselius, Donatello, Fragonard, Giorgione, Rubens, Tiepolo, Whistler, Romney, Reynolds, and Vigée-Lebrun.

TOTAL PAGES TRANSCRIBED: 36



Arthur J. Sulley - Correspondence

Frick's correspondence with Sulley dates from 1914 to 1915, and concerns works by Vermeer, Van Dyck, and Hals.

TOTAL PAGES TRANSCRIBED: 5



A.E. Stanley Clarke - Correspondence

Clarke wrote to Frick in 1916 to offer several works from his family's collection, including examples by Hoppner, Romney, Reynolds, and Greuze. Frick replied to decline the offer.

TOTAL PAGES TRANSCRIBED: 4



Roger E. Fry - Correspondence

Frick corresponded with scholar, painter, and critic Roger E. Fry from 1906 until 1912. Fry occasionally acted as an advisor to Frick, and served as a purchase agent on works such as Rembrandt’s Polish Rider. He also tried to interest Frick in purchasing other works, including ones by Titian, Tiepolo, Holbein, Vermeer, Tintoretto, Van Dyck, and Velázquez.

TOTAL PAGES TRANSCRIBED: 49